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THE TURTLE 



TO 



The Flaming Wheel 



BY 



THEODORE LYMAN WRIGHT 

AND 

MARION HAWTHORNE HEDGES 




GIVEN AT 

BELOIT, WISCONSIN, JUNE 2nd and 3rd 

1916 

To Celebrate the Eightieth Anniversary of the Founding of the City and 
the Seventieth Anniversary of the Founding of Beloit College 






COPYRIGHTED BY 

THEODORE LYMAN WRIGHT 

1916 



£ 



i» L 



1 CI. 4 3 984 



MAY 24 1916 




P R E F A CE 

For this Pageant-book a preface may be needed to explain, not 
the contents, but the omissions. Inevitably almost any wise citizen 
in turning these pages will have a disappointment almost passionate 
in finding his favorite storied incident of the 40's or of the 60's 
neglected, or a distinguished figure of Beloit's hero-worship unmen- 
tioned. The authors can only say that they, too, are conscious that 
much of the worthiest material has been left untouched, for pageants 
of future summers. This Book can make but a selection of a few 
famous Beloit scenes that have seemed most dramatic, and of a few 
famous Beloit sayings that have seemed most typical and epigrammatic. 
As far as possible sentences that are put upon the lips of old resi- 
dents of Beloit are given in authentic quotation. 

There might have been included in this Pageant-book lists of 
men and women of prominence who were probably present in the 
episodes; but no such list could have been made perfectly complete. 
Accordingly there are inserted the names of those only who happen 
to be speakers in the Pageant dialogue. A part of the joy of the 
audience may be in conjecturing the names of other personalities who 
will be conspicuous in the action. 

No detailed scenes are presented beyond the Civil War Period. 
The growth and promise of the newer Beloit can be but suggested in 
the symbolism of the Postlude. 



PAGEANT COMMITTEES 

Director — Ethel Theodora Rockwell 

Director of Music — James T. Sleeper 

Director of Dancing — Florence Farman 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Chairman and Auditor — Mayor H. W. Adams 
Treasurer — B. P. Eldred 
Secretary — Supt. F. E. Converse 

Committee— F. W. Wilford, Judge John B. Clark, Prof. T. L. 
Wright, T. M. Lien, Mrs. F. F. Gorham 

COMMITTEE ON GUARANTEE 

Chairman, Mayor H. W. Adams; W. S. Hovey, F. W. Wilford, 
Prof. E. G. Smith, Geo. Moran, Chas. Pierce, Stewart Mellick, 
L. W. Thompson, Alva Snyder, J. D. Peet. 

COMMITTEE ON ADMISSIONS, SEATING, USHERS 

Permits , Police and Transportation — Chairman, F. W. Wilford; 
E. H. Light, C. D. Rosa, S. Morse, J. H. McNeill, W. B. Bains. 

COMMITTEE ON PRESS WORK AND ADVERTISING 
Chairman, Judge John B. Clark, D. B. Worthington, Alonzo Mathi- 

son, Mrs. Eva Wilkinson, A. S. Koto, R. H. Wilson, Taylor 

Merrill. 

COMMITTEE ON THE PREPARATION OF THE BOOK 

OF WORDS 

Chairman, Prof. T. L. Wright; M. H. Hedges, Miss Annie S. 
McLenegan, Rev. Father J. E. Ryan, Rev. W. A. Rowell, Rev. J. 
C. K. Preus. 

COMMITTEE ON HISTORICAL INCIDENTS 

Chairman, Supt. F. E. Converse; Miss Ellen Chapin, Mrs. R. J. 
Burdge, Rev. Wm. Brown, Mrs. W. H. Chesbrough, Wm. 
O'Neil, Mrs. C. A. Emerson, Mrs. John Foster. 

COMMITTEE ON DISTRIBUTION OF PARTS 

Chairman, Miss Ethel T. Rockwell; Roy Rockwell, Albert Lange, 
Miss Anna Pratt, Mrs. Vernon Truesdell, J. H. McNeel, Prof. 
G. C. Clancy, C. S. Buck, Miss Annie S. McLenegan. 

COMMITTEE ON GROUNDS 

Chairman, T. M. Lien ; Martin B. MacNeille, Geo. Ingersoll, Prof. 
C. A. Culver, F. F. Gorham, E. A. Cordes, M. H. Hedges, 
Mrs. M. L. Marshall. 



COMMITTEE ON COSTUMES AND PROPERTIES 

Chairman, Mrs. F. F. Gorham 

Costumes 

Chairman, Mrs. F. F. Gorham; Mrs. Ed. Netzinger, Miss Mar- 
garet Goodwin, Miss Irene Rau, Mrs. W. T. Dobson, Mrs. 
Fred J. Bailey, Miss Emma Howarth, Mrs. L. H. Wood, Mrs. 
H. L. Hulburt, Mrs. Harry Parker, Miss Sadie Moran. 

Domestic Properties 
Chairman, Mrs. F. M. Coons; Miss Mary Houston, Mrs. C. E. 
Andrews, Mrs. Ida Croft. 

Heavy Properties 

Chairman, L. S. Moseley; John Crist, F. W. Morgan, M. H. 
Schwellenback, F. W. Dupke, Chas. Lathers, S. G. Strong, Sam. 
Wallace, C. W. Backenstoe, Edward Salmon. 

COMMITTEE ON VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL 

MUSIC 
Chairman, Jas. T. Sleeper; O. J. Johnson, Mrs. Oscar Foster, Miss 
Mabel Palmer, Mrs. R. J. Dowd, John Carroll, Earl Bassett, 
Mrs. F. H. Kemp. 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN COSTUMES AND CUSTOMS 

Chairman, Prof. G. S. Collie; Prof. I. M. Buell, Wm. Wheeler, 
Eugene Wheeler, Cornelius Buckley. 

COMMITTEE ON DANCING 

Chairman, Miss Florence Farman; Frank Yonts, John Carroll, Miss 
Carolyn Parker. 

COMMITTEE ON REHEARSALS 

Chairman, Henry Mills; Mrs. M. L. Marshall, Mort C. Phinn, 
Miss Annie McLenegan. 

COMMITTEE ON HISTORICAL EXHIBITS 
Chairman, A. F. Ayer; Mrs. W. H. Chesbrough, Miss Linda 
Creighton, Mrs. Ira P. Nye, Mrs. Cora B. Rau. 

PRODUCTION COMMITTEE 
General Chairmen, Supt. F. E. Converse, Prof. T. L. Wright. 

Prelude 
Chairman, Mrs. Vernon Truesdell; Miss Fanny M. Waite, Miss 
Mabel Palmer, Miss Carolyn Parker. 

EPISODE I. OLD SINNISSIPPI DAYS 
Chairman, J. H. McNeel. 

Scene 1 — The Builders of Turtle Mound 
Chairman, Milan Northrop ; Miss Daisy Buckeridge. 

5 



Scene 2 — The Turtle Tribe of the Winnebagoes 
Chairman, Fred Merrill; Rev. J. F. Ryan, Henry Mills, Mrs. Win- 
nifred Lynch, Dr. H. O. Delaney, Mrs. Hugh McGavock, Mrs. 
F. J. Hamlin, Miss Vera Riebel, Miss Dorothy Merriman, Miss 
Harriett Holmes, Miss Helen P. Frederick, Miss Laura Horst- 
man. 

Scene 3 — Romance of Hononegah 
Chairman, Henry Mills. 

Scene 4 — Blackhawk by Sinnissippi 

Chairman, J. A. Steiner; Mrs. Geo. H. Billington, Miss Eva A. 
Jameson. 

Scene 5 — Where Future Heroes Meet 

Chairman, Miss Annie S. McLenegan ; Capt. C. S. Buck, Herman 
Hugle, Harlow Nielsen. 

EPISODE II. IN PIONEER DAYS 
Chairman, Mrs. R. C. Murdock. 

Scene 1 — The Coming of the Blodgetts 

Chairman, Mrs. T. C. Hendley; Mrs. Geo. Rosenburg, Miss Fanny 
M. Waite. 

Scene 2 — After the Election 

Chairman, A. S. Thompson ; Rev. Almon Stevens, Chas. F. Cheney, 
Miss Nellie E. Jones, Mrs. S. E. Hill. 

Scene 3 — The Founding of Beloit College 

Chairman, Prof. John Pitt Deane; Miss Ellen Chapin, M. H. 
Hedges. 

EPISODE III. NATURE AT PLAY AND AT WORK 

Scenes 1 and 2 

Chairman, Chas. A. Daly; Miss Florence Farman, Chauncey Sand- 
dell, Miss Harriett Holmes, Miss Helen P. Frederick, Miss 
Laura Horstman, Miss Anna E. Duggan. 

Scene 3 — The Invention of the Twine Binder 
Chairman, Chas. Lathers; Phil Dolan. 

Scene 4 — The Invention of Windmill 
Chairman, Wm. H. Wheeler; C. E. Wheeler. 

EPISODE IV. THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD 
Chairman, Mrs. B. P. Eldred. 

Scene 1 — Lincoln's Second Visit to Wisconsin 
Chairman, Mrs. W. C. Weirick; Mort Phinn, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Haynes, Mrs. Maude Carpenter, Edward G. Vogel, Chas. 
Wheeler. 

Scene 2 — Enlistment 
Chairman, Mort C. Phinn ; Miss Eva A. Jameson, E. O. Powers. 

6 



Scene 3 — The Soldiers' Return 

Chairman, E. O. Powers; C. S. Buck, W. H. Grinnell, Mrs. W. C. 
Weirick, Rev. Jas. S. A. Mitcham. 

POSTLUDE. BELOIT TODAY AND TOMORROW 

Chairman, Mrs. W. P. Leek. 

Scene 1 — Education and Industry 

Chairman, Mrs. M. L. Marshall; Mrs. C. E. Smith, Mrs. A. S. 
Thompson, Mrs. C. W. Merriman, Mrs. W. B. Lishman, Mrs. 
Annie O. Seaver, Mrs. E. D. Wheeler, Mrs. A. F. Ayer, Miss 
Zelma Richardson, Ralph W. Stevens, Henry H. Walker, 
Egbert H. Walker, Leon F. Peterson, D. G. Torrisi, Dan 
Morites, Miss Anna Luetcher, Sam. Slaymaker, W. B. Bains, 
R. G. Krumrey. 

Scene 2 — The Pageant Banner of the City Builders 

Chairman, Mrs. F. E. Converse; Miss Annie Hollister, Miss Kath- 
erine Perring, Prof. Karl T. Waugh. 





PRELUDE 

Persons Represented 

Time (in disguise). 

The East Wilderness. 

The West Wilderness. 

The Snow-Boys (later the Sun-Boys). 

The Twelve Months. 

(The right and the left front corners of the scene are occu- 
pied by two personifications of the Wildernesses, the East Wil- 
derness in grey and green robes decorated with a Turtle design, 
and the West Wilderness in grey and yellow robes decorated 
with a Flaming-Star design. The draperies are long, and the 
heads are mysteriously veiled. 

(Enter Father Time costumed as Glacier, bald, except for 
the forelock of opportunity. The far-spreading train of his 
icy blue robe is borne among a bevy of little boys in sparkling 
white capes and caps, who scatter snowflakes before the advanc- 
ing Glacier. Glacier's scythe and harsh foot-prints scar the 
sod as he shuffles slowly down the Hill to loud, heavy music. 
He retreats and advances among his little followers, represent- 
ing two great glacial epochs of Wisconsin. The boys cower 
about him and under his robe while Glacier chants.) 

Glacier. My cold! My cold prepares the Hill for heat! 
These icy shufflings of my frozen feet 
Shall carve a valley for the future home 
Of all the flaming energies to come, 
When toil shall shape a City-life complete 
Beside Rock River, 'neath the Sun's sky-dome. 

The Snow-Boys. The Sun! The Sun! The Sun! The Sun! 
The Blazing Star! The Sun! The Sun! 

East Wilderness. How long shall Time these Glacial garments 
wear? 

West Wilderness. Till Heat and Love the Sun's new reign 
declare. 8 



(The boys' white robes and caps are changed to the flame- 
red of Sun-Boys, and with multiplex lashings of flaming ribbons 
Glacier is driven to the upper background. 

(Enter, meanwhile, the Twelve Months circling around the 
central sun-group of the flame-clad boys. Each month bears 
a zodiacal sign done in gold on blue. The Months circle end- 
lessly in the different orbits of a solemn planet-dance. Finally, 
grouped with the Flame-boys, they lift their arms toward the 
East and shout, the two Wildernesses joining their cry.) 

All. Warmth! Light! Heat! Glory! The Sun! 
Energy! Work! Industry! The Sun! The Sun! 
The Sun! The Sun! Hail Star of the Flaming Wheel! 
Hail, Holy Light, Hail Wisdom! Hail Love! 

(Father Time changes his Glacier disguise to that of Indus- 
try, receiving from his Boy-attendants a robe of flame-red, 
decorated with white blazing stars, together with the winged 
staff of a Hermes. Before him the twelve relay Torch-racers, 
in three teams, are ready to start. They wear only short Greek 
tunics and winged caps. They carry burning torches and shields 
emblazoned with the symbols of the tortoise, the hare and the 
blazing star.) 

East Wilderness. No more shall Time his glacial garments wear. 

West Wilderness. Behold the torch-race in its flare and glare, 
Wherein the Turtle and the swifter Hare 
The Victory of the Blazing Stars declare! 

(The victor team of the Blazing Stars comes before Indus- 
try to receive the prize-crown. During the race Industry has 
chanted. ) 

Industry. The Cold is hot, and Force is grace, 
The patience of the Turtle's pace 
Outstrips the Hare and wins the race 

While high Ambition's clarion peals. 
The Cold is hot; the passive Stars 
Go blazing with flashed hopes of ours 
To shape man's weakness into powers 
And energies of Flaming Wheels. 

(After the crowning of the victors, the Flame-boys, Months, 
and Torch-racers pass off, as the first Mound-builders are ap- 
pearing. ) 

Industry. The Cold is hot ; the Slow is swift ; 
And down the sudden Centuries drift 
The eager tribes whose colors shift 

Across my valleys from their sources. 
The Cold is hot; the eras spin! 
The slow ox wagon shall begin 
The races that they only win 

Who drive the stars of Empire's courses. 




EPISODE I. 
OLD SINNISSIPPI DAYS 

SCENE 1. 

THE BUILDERS OF THE TURTLE MOUND 

Persons Represented 

The Mound Builders. 

Earliest Indian Tribes. 
(The Mound Builders are appearing suddenly from no- 
where and from everywhere. Their women in a chanting pro- 
cession carry jars and baskets of holy earth with which they 
are building and sodding a funeral tumulus on the right.) 

CHANT OF THE WOMEN AT WORK 

O, Manitou 

Na he ya he 

Na he ya he ho 

O, Manitou, 

Ya he, ye, he-ho-ho-ho. 

(A procession of the men of the Mound Builders enters 
and crosses the scene, bearing aloft the corpse of a chief for 
interment, together with his possessions. The funeral rites 
include a ritual of hands that beat the breasts in grief and then 
are uplifted in prayer to the Sun-God whose totem, a Turtle, is 
displayed. The funeral chant is accompanied by tom-tom 
music. ) 

CHANT OF THE MOUND BUILDERS 

Ya he, ya, he-ho-ho-ho. 
O, Ka was ta, 
Na, he ya he 
Na he ya he 
Na he ya he ho 
O, Ka was ta, 
Ya he, ya, he-ho-ho-ho. 

10 ; 



(The ceremony of the Mound Builders is interrupted by a 
flight of arrows from unseen Indian foes. The Mound Build- 
ers, taking with them their dead, drift hastily away into the 
thickets, pursued stealthily by a group of Indian Warriors.) 

SCENE 2. 

THE TURTLE VILLAGE OF THE WINNEBAGOES 

Persons 

Indians of the Winnebago tribe. 

Chief Walking Turtle. 

French Fur-traders. 

A French Bourgeois. 

A French Priest. 

Thibeau, the first white settler. 

(After an interlude of Indian music, there enters a long 
procession of migrating Winnebagoes, moving in single file. 
The women bring heavy material and begin to erect a group 
of tepees, at the right, decorated with totem paintings of Tur- 
tles. Throughout this scene an artist continues at work color- 
ing these devices. 

The braves occupy themselves with the training of the young 
Indians in such activities as running, jumping, swimming, arch- 
ery, tomahawk throwing, gambling, music, dancing, and arrow- 
making, while in the background women and girls busy them- 
selves gathering wood, starting fires and dressing the slain 
animals which some hunters have just brought in. 

All of this activity is interrupted by sounds of a French song 
and bugle-calls heard from boats on the river.) 

SONG OF THE VOYAGEURS 

Bourgeois. Michaud est monte dans un prunier 
Pour treiller des prunes 
La branche a casse. 
Chorus. Michaud a tombe? 

Bourgeois Ou est — ce qu'il est? 

Chorus. II est en bas. 

Bourgeois Oh! reveille, reveille, reveille, 

Oh! reveille, Michaud est en haut! 
Bourgeois (crying out). Whoop la! a terre, a terre! pour la pipe! 
(Enter, making a portage with their canoes from the river, 
French traders, voyageurs, hunters, Indian guides and one Mis- 
sionary Priest. A French fleur-de-lis flag is borne. The Indian 
village throngs to welcome the new comers, and receives the 
Priest's blessing.) 
Priest. Benedictat vos omnipotens Deus, 
Pater et Filius ( + ) et Spiritus 
Sanctus. Amen. 

11 



(One side of the Indian village becomes occupied by a 
group of young Indians receiving instructions from the Priest, 
the other side by a group of Indians and their guests drinking 
and gambling; the center is a busy scene of trading. The 
Indians take exchange for their fine furs: blankets, cloth, 
trinkets, money, paint, ribbons, sleigh-bells, jews-harps, look- 
ing glasses, knives, kettles, hoes, fire-arms, tobacco and whiskey. 
The Indians begin to put their new possessions to use to the 
amusement of the French, who instruct them. 

The Company of Fur-traders pass into the forest, leaving 
behind them, with farewells, one of their number, Thibeau, 
together with his family. 

| The Priest, departing, gives to Thibeau and to the Indians 
his benediction.) 
Priest. Benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et Filii et ( + ) Spiritus 
Sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen. 

(Thibeau and his two squaws, with his lazy grown son and 
helpful Indians, begin the construction of a hut, using one of 
the Indian tepees with bark, logs and reeds. The family retires 
within. All the Indians withdraw to rest. 

SCENE 3. 

THE ROMANCE OF HONONEGAH 

Persons 

Thibeau, the French settler. 

His son. 

Mack, a New England settler at Rockton. 

Hononegah, a Winnebago girl. 

Chief Walking Turtle. 

The Indians of Turtle Village. 

(Hoof-beats are heard of a horse rapidly approaching from 
the south. Mack, of Pecatonica, enters, flinging himself from 
his horse at the door of Thibeau, where he taps and whispers.) 
Mack. Help! Wake! Danger! Help! Help! Wake! 

Thibeau. (Entering) Qui est la? Danger where? Pourquoi? 
A moi! 

Mack. I am Mack. The Winnebagoes of Pecatonica, long time 
my friends, tonight chase me from my river bank below, with 
yells of death — death! 

Thibeau. Non! Non! Always Winnebagoes friends, honest. 
Like, — trust Winnebago man, — Winnebago woman, bon! 
What for you scare ? Pourquoi ? 

Mack. Well may you trust them. Have you not a Winnebago 
squaw ? 

Thibeau. Oui! Oui! Oui! One squaw, two squaw! Ouif 
Deux femmes! 

12 



Mack. Then two times trust your Winnebagoes, but because I'll 
take no squaw of them they threaten death. Help me escape. 
Where lies the trail to our Pale Face city by the waters of 
Lake Michigan ? Adieu ! I hurry. Keep, for safety's sake your 
one squaw — two squaws for safety's sake. 

Thibeau. Oui! Deux Squaws. 

(Six Indians enter in pursuit of Mack. They bind him, 
struggling, to an oak trunk, unheedful of Thibeau's pleas.) 

Thibeau. Allons done! Spare the poor pale face. He show soon 
he love the Winnebagoes. Halte-la! He'll take a Winnebago 
squaw. (To Mack) A squaw? Une femme, deux squaws, 
peutetre ? 

Mack. No ! 

Thibeau. Oui! Oui! Yes! Yes! A squaw, or two! (Exit.) 
(One guard is left yawning under the tree where Mack is 

bound. The guard sleeps. Enter Hononegah.) 
Hononegah. First the binding; then the fire; then the death! 

Now the thongs hurt. Soon fire will burn. I cut the hurting 

cords. Fire shall not burn you ; you are free ! 

(She salves Mack's hurt limbs with remedies from her basket 

and conceals him in an empty barrel.) 
Mack (from the barrel). Not so free! Who frees me binds me. 

To Hononegah am I bound in love. It is Hononegah that I 

thank and love. 
Guard (half awake). 'Tis Hononegah that he thanks and loves? 

Help! Help! The prisoner is free! Help! 
(Indians all enter, running.) 

All. The Prisoner unbound? Who frees the captive? 

Hononegah. It is Hononegah that he thanks and loves. 

All. Hononegah ! It is Hononegah that he thanks and loves. 

Chief Walking Turtle. Then shall she be his squaw and all 
be friends. 

Mack. My squaw is Hononegah ! She frees and binds me ! 
Hononegah. And Mack is my pale-face man. I've freed and 
bound him. Whom I save, I keep. 

Chief Walking Turtle. The stubborn pale-face yields to take 

a Winnebago wife. The captive is free. The foe is friend. 
Thibeau. Ha! Tout bien! One squaw! Then two squaws! 

Mack. No. It is Hononegah that I thank and love. 

(Here follow the ceremonies of the adopting of Mack into 
the Winnebago tribe and his marriage to Hononegah, with music, 
dances and songs. During the festivities Thibeau's oldest, dis- 
reputable son enters with jugs and bottles from the French 
traders' stores.) 

Son. Enough for all this happy day. Drink round. 

13 



Indians. Round. Drink round. Free fire-water ! Fire-water free ! 

This happy day drink round. Round! Round! Round! 
Thibeau (breaking jugs). Non! Non! Drink water. Water 

cool after the dance. Fire-water burn, — burn blood, brain, body. 

Waste — make mad. A drunk Indian, him like savage fool — all 

like dee deveeL 
Mack. Or Frenchman either. 
Thibeau. Oui, Oui, Oui ! — or 'Merican man. 
Squaws. Break the fire-water jugs! 
Walking Turtle. Now need we brains unfired, undizzied to 

hear and heed, for hither comes White Cloud, the Prophet. The 

Great Spirit's Prophet comes. 
Mack. Beware your White Prophet and his Black Bird. Adieu. 
Hononegah. Adieu. 

(Mack and his bride leave for their home down the river.) 

SOENE 4. 

BLACK HAWK BY SINNISSIPPI 

Persons 

White Cloud (Waubakeeshik), the Prophet of the Winne- 
bagoes. 

Black Hawk, a Sac brave, in rebellion against the encroach- 
ments of the United States Government. 

Walking Turtle, chief of Turtle Village Winnebagoes. 

Thibeau. 

Winnebagoes. 

Sacs on the march. 

(Enter White Cloud. A few Sacs and Winnebagoes follow, 
wearing red British blankets from Maiden. Among them is 
Neapope.) 

The Winnebagoes. White Cloud, White Cloud, White Cloud! 
The Prophet, the Prophet! Waubakeeshik! 

White Cloud. Winnebago Brothers, white robber-men claim our 
soil, our wigwams, our woods, our rivers by magic, lying pens 
and papers that make Treaties. Cheating leaves are Treaties! 
Black Hawk's fingers once touched a feather pen, but in his 
heart he signed no treaty. He longs for vengeance ! Help, Win- 
nebagoes! Others, too, shall help. The swift and cunning 
Foxes are at hand, and the red-coat British. Shall not your 
Turtle, too, learn swiftness ? By my lips speaks the Great Spirit : 
"Be strong. Be fierce. Be vengeful. Be bloody!" Up the 
Rock River stream you shall see coming a Black Hawk, like 
a winged Sun, to help you, and to be helped. 

The Black Sparrow Hawk has felt the whip of the white-face 
and shall strike back. His corn-fields are lost, but he shall do 
reaping where Yankees last spring sowed. His villages have dis- 
appeared, but he shall yet be a Royal Chief in the Pale Faces' 

14 




THE BL.ACK HAWK WAR — 1832. 

(By courtesy of The L. C. Hyde & Brittan Bank) 



15 



Shekaago by Michigan. They have plowed the graves of the 
fathers of Black Hawk! They shall themselves lie in bloody 
graves. Winnebagoes, help Black Hawk. Help him, and one 
day shall the men of Turtle town have a greater glory than the 
glory of the Fathers who built the holy Turtle Mound. 

The Great Spirit sends Black Hawk, and I, White Cloud, 
am his Prophet. Ah, Winnebagoes, be brave. He comes. He 
is near. He comes! Ma-ka-tai-she-kia-ki-ak ! 

Chief Walking Turtle. The Prophet's words shall have our 
thought and answer — tomorrow. 

White Cloud. Tomorrow? No! No! Your Turtle must run 
swifter; your Turtle must fly like Sparrow Hawk. 

Winnebagoes. Tomorrow. Tomorrow ! 

Blacn Hawk (entering with followers). "Tomorrow." Tomor- 
row! Yes I hear their coward turtle-word. No tomorrow! 
Now shall they move. I'll leave no laggard reptile spies behind 
me. The sluggard Winnebagoes who will not today fight with 
me shall be driven on before me with my squaws. We will 
hide the timid things with our poor women up in the swamps of 
Koshkonong. Away! On! Break up their village and away. 
Still stand the tortoises so slow, so sullen? Seize their fire- 
weapons. Burn their Council Wigwam. Herd them on with 
the squaws. 

(Shots are heard as the Winnebagoes are disarmed and their 
tepees burned. Black Hawk's men, with all the Indians, sweep 
on toward the east. Among them are seen Sylvia and Rachael 
Hall, captives taken in Illinois and dragged on by their guards, 
who paint the girls' faces as they lead them. Thibeau alone 
is left in his door-way.) 

Thibeau. Go, red brothers. You must drift away with the mad 
Black Bird. I stay alone! Alone? Not quite alone; beasts in 
the brush, two squaws; snakes in the grass, a drunken boy; 
birds in the trees, un enfant — Oui, a papoose! 

SCENE 5. 

WHERE FUTURE HEROES MEET 

Time, 1832. 

Persons 

General Atkinson and his forces, including many men of later 
fame, in pursuit of Black Hawk. 
Mack, acting as guide. 
Thibeau. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

Col. Henry Dodge, leading the Rangers. 
Lieutenant Robert Anderson. 
Col. Nathaniel Boone. 
Thompson, of the Rangers. , 

16 



Col. Zachary Taylor. 
Lieutenant Jefferson Davis. 
Col. Strode. 
White Cloud. 

A mystic group of Prophetic figures. 

(Enter, to make camp, a party in pursuit of Black Hawk, 
regulars and mounted police under General Atkinson, and 
Dodge's Rangers destitute of uniforms. Mack is their guide, 
and with jolly informality introduces the following to Thibeau: 
Captain Johnson, Col. Henry Dodge, Col. William S. Hamil- 
ton, son of Alexander Hamilton, Col. Nathaniel Boone, son of 
Daniel Boone, Col. Zachary Taylor, Lieutenant Robert Ander- 
son, Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, Capt. Abraham Lincoln.) 

Lincoln. Yes, I'm Captain. Last year's title sticks — till I win a 
better; though I'm a private now in the ranks. It's a relief. 
Last spring I had my seventy men to lead from one field to 
another. They had to pass through a gateway to the next 
enclosure. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember the proper 
word of command for getting my company endwise so that it 
could get through that gate; so as we came near the gate 1 
shouted : 

"This company is dismissed for two minutes, when it will 
fall in again on the other side of that gate." I got them there. 

Anderson. Abe's men have a way of getting through. 

Dodge. You ought to see Abe get through a debate. 

Boone. Or wrestle ! 

Dodge. I've one of my Rangers '11 'rastle him, — big Thompson. 

All. A match! A match! 'Rastle him, Abe. 

(The men take sides, betting articles of value. Lincoln and 
Thompson take off their coats and wrestle. Thompson secures 
the first fall.) 

Lincoln. This is the most powerful man I ever had hold of. He 
will throw me and you will lose your wagers, boys, unless I act 
on the defensive. 

(Lincoln tries for a "crotch hold" and "sliding away." Both 
go to the ground in a "dog-fall.") 

Thompson. That's my throw. 

Lincoln's Backers. No, no, no, no! A dog-fall. No, no! 

Lincoln. Boys, boys, the man actually threw me once fair, broadly 
so ; and the second time this very fall he threw me fairly, though 
not apparently so. 

All. That's too bad ! 'Twas a dog-fall ! But it's all right. Just 
like our Honest Abe. Hurrah! Hurrah! 

Taylor. That was a real victory of Abe's. 

Davis. Yes, in more ways than one. He seems almost a gentleman. 

Strode. I'll stump Abraham to a lifting stunt. Roll in a whiskey 
barrel and I'll lift it and take a drink from the bung! 

All (singing). So say we all of us! Roll along! Roll along! 

Strode (lifting and drinking). There! 

17 



Lincoln (lifting and drinking). There! 

Strode. Well, I thought you never drank any whiskey, Captain Lin- 
coln. 

Lincoln (spitting the drink to the ground). I don't drink whiskey, 
Colonel Strode. 

(All rest and sleep under the trees. Enter the Prophet White 
Cloud.) 

Prophet (chanting). Black Hawk has departed. He can do no 
more. Here lie his pursuers by the Sinnissippi that the Black 
Hawk loved. His sun is setting and will rise no more. After 
the red sunset comes a white dawn. Farewell to Black Hawk. 
And who are these that sleep ? I stumble upon bodies. Three 
chiefs of a great nation they shall be by Potomac, — now by 
Rock River. For wheels turn round. (He mystically examines 
the baggage labels.) Taylor, Lincoln, Davis; Fame, Glory, 
Tragedy. And here sleep sons in dreams of their great fathers. 
Young Boone, what vision have you of the Kentucky wilds? 
And you, young Hamilton, of Executive Chambers ? Ah, Ander- 
son, this is not the last that you shall know of war. I spell some 
strange far name like S-U-M-P-T-E-R. Dodge is to be an 
old-man Senator and Johnson a General. But of you other 
three: Lincoln, Davis, Taylor — Taylor, Davis, Lincoln. My 
Prophet-voice is failing; my Prophet-eye is dimming. Lincoln, 
Lincoln, Lincoln. 

(Exit the Prophet.) 

(The soldiers continue to sleep while a group of prophetic 
figures in green, yellow, black and gray, form circling dances 
and poses around the embers of the camp-fire and the fire-pot.) 

SONG OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL 

Fates. Stir the Fortune-pot and see 

Fortune's wheel run spinning round. 

They who slumber on this ground, 
Of high degree and low degree, 
. Shall in future days be found 

Captains of high destiny, 
In the Nation's praise to be 

Forever more renowned. 
Stir the Fortune-pot and see 

Fortune's wheel run spinning round ! 

I (Exeunt the Prophet band.) 

(The Rangers and other soldiers are awaking; they dis- 
charge their fire arms, without discipline, at creatures in the 
forest.) 
Taylor. Fall in. You are using your guns for your own pleasure 
and to the danger of us all. You are citizen soldiers and some 
of you may fill high offices or — even be President some day, but 
never, unless you do your duty. Forward, march. 

18 



(The soldiers depart on the trail of Black Hawk. Thibeau 
remains amazed in his door- way while upon the deserted scene 
steal again the Fates and other mystic figures. They chant 
around the last embers of the camp-fire, scattering in drugs that 
cause mysterious colored flames.) 

SONG OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL 

Fates. Stir the Fortune-pot. Behold! 

Life and Fate are whirling wheels, 

Dizzy, while the Future reels 
From the Present and the Old ! 

Here the wizard-flame reveals 
How yon soldier-lads may hold 

All a Nation's woes and weals 
Hung on Fortune's cords of gold. 
Stir the Fortune-pot. Behold! 

Life and Fate are whirling wheels. 




19 




EPISODE II. 
IN PIONEER DAYS 

SCENE 1. 

THE COMING OF BLODGETT 

Time, 1836, probably November. 

Place, on the Rock River, in front of Thibeau's abode. 

Persons 

Thibeau. 

His two Indian Wives. 

Caleb Blodgett. 

His Wife. 

Their two boys, Nelson and Daniel. 

A Nameless Pioneer. 

His Eight Children. 

Thibeau's Children. 
(Thibeau sits placidly smoking in front of his door, while 
one wife, from the background appears lugging wood, and, 
soon after, the other carrying water. Several children, in the 
garb of Indians, play about the door. Almost immediately two 
prairie schooners are driven in. The first is crammed with 
children ; and is driven by a hard-faced individual in a wilderness 
suit of furs. On the front seat of the other wagon sit Mr. and 
Mrs. Blodgett. When the second wagon is near the center, and 
the first has passed nearly from sight, there is a crack as though of 
a breaking wheel. Blodgett draws rein, climbs down stiffly, looks 
under the wagon and shakes his head. He calls out to his fellow 
traveler. Nelson and Daniel Blodgett, his sons, climb from the 
back of the wagon.) 
Blodgett. Wait, wait, wait. 

(The man in the first wagon comes back, followed by his 
eight children. Thibeau and his children curiously and stolidly 
approach. Blodgett gets a hammer and pounds his wagon, looks 
up, shakes his head.) 

20 



Blodgett. Plague take it, she's broke. 
Nameless Pioneer. Broke? No? 

Children. Turn, wheel, turn. 

We know the signs to steer West by, 
Upon the tree the moss hangs high; 
At night we lie beneath the sky; 

Turn, wheel, turn. 
We fish and hunt for food by day, 
But ever westward lures the way. 

Turn, wheel, turn. 

Turn, turn, turn. 

Blodgett. We have got to stay here. 

Thibeau. Oui, strangers, stay — fine place — Thibeau's all (stretches 
arms proudly). Own as far as three-looks there,, there, there, 
there (points north, east, west and south). Fine river, heaps 
fish. Bon weather here always. Great Spirit, he promises fair 
weather to Turtle always. 
Blodgett. Can we buy land of you ? 
Thibeau. Oui, Monsieurs. Avez-vous heap powder, and 'Meri- 

can man's what you call him, — coin? 
Blodgett. Plenty. 

Thibeau. Me sell — all (stretches arms). 

Blodgett (lays hand on the arm of the Nameless Pioneer). Stay, 
friend. Here is just the spot. It is God's meaning that we stay, 
and build our home here. 
Nameless Pioneer. Stay? To be shut in by forest trees, near to 
civilization's fringe? No, I can not stay. Not for such as I 
will cities hum; not by such as I will homes be built; I am 
the blazer of the trails. Like the wandering Jew I have the 
curse, ever westward leads my fleeing star. 

(He closes dramatically and grasps Blodgett by the hand; 
his children cling about him crying, "Stay, daddy, stay." He 
moves sadly and resolutely toward his wagon; the children fol- 
low solemnly ; he drives off slowly. ) 
Nameless Children (mournfully). 
Turn, wheel turn; 
We must reach the land of the fallen sun, 
Where the fields are rich with gold fire-spun. 
And the rivers with largess run, run, run. 

Burn, sands, burn. 
Down beyond that Western star 
Our way is hard, our way is far, 
Turn, wheel, turn, 
Turn, turn, turn. 
(Blodgett stands waving his cap until the music dies out; 
then he returns to the wagon, shrewdly picks out a number of 
articles, offering them to Thibeau, who grunts, dickers and 
finally accepts. He calls his wives and they lug the stuff up 

21 



the hill. At this point another prairie wagon is driven in with 
a shout. This wagon is driven by John Hackett and Cordelia 
Blodgett Hackett. The two families withdraw toward a good 
site at the rear and there, by the help of a large number of 
friendly Indians, begin to construct the Blodgett log-house. 

The wagon of the Crane and Crosby families arrives. Three 
horses draw it. One crippled horse is led behind. Mrs. Crane 
is ill, but walks, carrying her babe. Rails are pulled from 
the wagon to pry along the vehicle on the rutted road. The 
new comers are welcomed on the Hill. On the canvas cover 
of the Crane's prairie-schooner is inscribed the motto: 

"He who feeds the sparrow does not forget the Crane.") 

SCENE 2. 

AFTER THE ELECTION 

Time, an afternoon in summer, about 1840. 
Place, yard of the Rock River House, Caleb Blodgett, pro- 
prietor. 

Persons 

John Burroughs, schoolmaster. 

Rev. William Adams of Pecatonica (Rockton), who is 
slightly deaf. 

John Hackett, first postmaster. 

Horace Hobart, first justice of the peace. 

David Noggle, first lawyer, champion of woman's rights. 

Caleb Blodgett. 

Major Charles Johnson. 

Dr. White, of the New England Company. 

Benjamin Brown, store-keeper. 

Harvey Bevedy. 

Miss Mary J. Moore, afterwards Mrs. Bevedy. 

Cyrus Ames. 

David Merrill, singing master. 

Miss Agnes Fonda. 

Hazen Cheney. 

Besides these characters, there are several children, women 
and men, giving mass and color to the grouping. 
(John Burroughs, an energetic, dark young man, comes 
down the hill, from the Rock River House, just as Reverend 
William Adams rides stiffly in on a heavy draft horse. In the 
conversation, which follows, John Burroughs is forced to repeat 
what he says in a loud voice so that the Reverend Sir can hear. 
Burroughs helps Adams to dismount; Adams is very stiff.) 
Burroughs (somewhat grandly). Welcome to New Albany, Rev. 
Mr. Adams. You have come on the busiest day in our town's 
history. ( Repeats. ) 

22 



Adams (looking around, rubbing his hands). Indeed? I am glad to 
find so prosperous a Canaan in this virgin wilderness, Master 
Burroughs. (He, too speaks loudly.) 

Burroughs. Did you have a safe trip? How did you leave Peca- 
tonica? 

Adams. How did I leave Pecatonica? Well, the roads are excru- 
ciating, Master Burroughs. (He stretches stiffly.) 

Burroughs. As I was saying, this is a great day for New Albany. 
( Repeats. ) 

Adams. How's that, sir? 

Burroughs. Your coming for one thing, Reverend Sir. You are 
to organize tonight the first church in New Albany. I have 
given over my school room for it. (This with a bow. Re- 
peats.) 

Adams. And your school room is where? (Looks around.) 

Burroughs. Why, in the kitchen of the Rock River House. 
There goes the bell now. And here come the pupils. There 
will be but a brief session today, sir. (Repeats.) 

(A steel triangle hanging from a tree is struck by a boy. 
Children of various sizes and ages appear laughing, carrying 
books, and dragging behind them, in some instances, miniature 
log-cabins on wheels. Some of them cry, ' 'Tippecanoe and 
Tyler too.") 

And as I was saying there will be but a brief session today, 
for this is a crucial moment in New Albany's history. 

Adams. Please go on, Master Burroughs; as good Reverend Dr. 
Dwight used to say, "My soul is eager for information." 

Burroughs. Well, it is this way. The results of New Albany's 
election held yesterday, will be announced this afternoon in 
the yard of the Rock River House. (Repeats.) 

Adams. Election sir? Will it go Whig or Democrat? 

Burroughs. Democrat, I hope, sir, for great local issues hang on 
this election. The parties are not exactly Democrat and Whig. 
They might be called the Rock-River-House-Party and the 
New-England-Emigration-Party. ( Repeats. ) 

Adams. Ah, so! Dissension in this New Canaan. How very 
deplorable. 

Burroughs. No, not dissension. Only friendly rivalry. The 
questions involved are: First, whether we shall change the 
name of the settlement; second, whether we shall vote bonds 
to the Rock River Valley Union Railroad. Dr. White leads 
the New England party, and Caleb Blodgett the Rock River 
House Party. (Repeats.) 

Adams. I, being from a neighboring settlement, would not venture 
to express my views, Master Burroughs. 

Burroughs. Horace Hobart is candidate for Justice of the Peace 
from the New England Company, and David Noggle from the 
Rock River House. Of course, I stand with Mr. Blodgett, sir. 

23 



But I am afraid we shall be beaten because of Mr. Noggle's 
unpopular stand for woman's rights. 

Adams. How deplorable. 

(As they are talking, a horseman appears at the riding- 
block and Mr. John Hackett comes down the hill with a mail 
bag. He is accompanied by Mr. Benjamin Brown.) 

Burroughs. John Hackett, our worthy postmaster, and Benjamin 
Brown, our storekeeper. There goes the mail to Belvidere. 

(The horseman dashes off. Mr. Hackett and Mr. Brown 
join the group in front with salutations.) 

Adams. I am just a little deaf. You have a fine site for a city 
here, Master Hackett. There is untold power in that river. 
There ought to be a lot of factories here some day. 

Hackett (raising his voice). A great business place already, Rev. 
Mr. Adams. 

Brown. Why, it was only yesterday that the tri-weekly stage 
brought a traveler to my shop, looking for a pair of spectacles. 
I supplied him. As he jumped into the stage he cried out, 
"That's where New Albany beats Freeport and Rockford; 
their stores had no glasses." (Brown begins to laugh.) You 
see the joke of it was that they were the only pair of glasses I had. 

Adams. The only pair; quite a joke, quite a joke. 

Hackett (looking up at the sky). Well, the crowd is beginning 
to arrive. The election returns will be announced soon. 

(From the west appear groups of men and women in their 
best apparel. Down the path from the Rock River House come 
the school children first, then men and women. They form a 
circle; Horace White and his party to the right; and Caleb 
Blodgett and his party to the left. Mr. Hackett, Mr. Adams 
and Mr. Burroughs find places with the Blodgett faction. 
A committee headed by Major Charles Johnson takes a place 
on the platform. Amid stillness Major Johnson arises and 
speaks. ) 

Johnson. Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of New Albany: We 
are met here this afternoon to hear the returns of yesterday's 
election. I will ask Mr. Caleb Blodgett, clerk of the election 
board, to announce the results. 

Blodgett. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. Horace 
Hobart was elected by a majority of five. 

(Shouts from the New England Party. Mr. David Nog- 
gle rushes over and seizes Mr. Hobart's hand. Hurrahs.) 

Johnson. Order, order, order. 

Crowd. Hear him, hear him, hear him. 

Blodgett. Before calling Mr. Horace Hobart, our justice of the 
peace, to the stand, for he will act as chairman today, may I 
say a word? This is a big moment in the history of our set- 
tlement. Although I opposed Mr. Hobart in this election, let 
me say I hold no personal enmity toward him. I am willing 
to join in to make our settlement the best in the territory. 
(Cheers.) 24 



Johnson. Will you hear Mr. Hobart? 

Crowd. Hear him, hear him. 

Hobart. Citizens of Beloit: I am not insensible to the great honor 
that my fellows have conferred upon me, and to the generous 
words of Caleb Blodgett. (Cheers.) With the permission of 
this assembly, I shall turn this gathering into a momentary 
town meeting for the transaction of such business as may come 
before it. (More cheers.) 

Cheney. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. 

Hobart. Mr. Cheney. 

Cheney. I beg to present the following resolution: 

"Resolved, That books for receiving subscriptions to the capital 
stock of the Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company be 
opened on the second month of February next at 12 o'clock 
noon at the Rock River House under the direction and super- 
intendence of Caleb Blodgett." 
Mr. Chairman, I move you that this resolution be accepted. 

Ames. I second that motion. 

Hobart. All in favor of the proposed resolution say "aye." 

Crowd. Aye, aye. 

Hobart. All opposed? 

(Silence.) 

Hobart. The measure is carried. Any more business? 

White. I move you, Mr. Chairman, that a committee of three 

be appointed to suggest a new name for the settlement, instead 

of the Indian name, Turtle — far too slow! 
Cheney. I second that motion. 
Hobart (puts the question). The ayes have it. I name Major 

Charles Johnson, Mr. Caleb Blodgett, Mr. Allen. 
Johnson. May we beg you, Mr. Hobart, and also Mr. L. G. 

Fisher, to act with our committee? 

(The committee come down to the front and confer; the 

larger assembly falls into conversing groups.) 
Major Johnson. Gentlemen, a number of names have already 

been suggested, among them Waterloo, but none to my mind 

seems fitting for our city. 
Allen. Why not retain Mr. Blodgett's name for it, New Albany? 
Blodgett. No, no. The election settled that. I am willing to 

make the change. 
Johnson. Some have suggested Harrison. 
Blodgett. No politics here. 
Allen. Detroit, a little Detroit. 
Fisher. We are not going to be little long, and we want something 

new; Detroit sounds well, though. Let's see: Detroit, Cetroit, 

Betroit, Beloit? How about Beloit? 
Blodgett. Just the thing. 
Allen. An inspiration. 

(The committee returns.) 

25 



Johnson. Ladies and Gentlemen: We propose the name of Beloit. 
By Ballot and By lot we've chosen Beloit. 

(Cheers and applause. Children throw up caps and shout, 
"Hurrah for Beloit.") 

Voice. Janesville will say "Below it!" 

White. Mr. Chairman. 

Hobart. Dr. White. 

White. I congratulate the committee on their scholarly choice. 
I take it that there is a fit symbolism in this new name Beloit; 
it no doubt springs from the French and means beautiful meet- 
ing of streams. (Applause.) 

Johnson. Mr. Chairman, I plead not guilty. Beloit may be 
Hebrew as far as I know; I know no French, neither does 
Blodgett nor Allen. 

(General laughter. Cheers from children, "Hurrah for 
Beloit, B-E-L-O-I-T. Hurrah!) 

Hobart. Gentlemen, is there any further business? 

David Noggle. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. 

Hobart. The Honorable Mr. Noggle. 

(Just at this point there ride into the crowd a man and a 
woman mounted on the same horse, dressed in wedding finery. 
They are Harvey Bevedy and Miss Mary J. Moore.) 

Bevedy (in a loud, excited voice). Is the Rev. William Adams 
here present? 

Adams. Aye. 

(He goes to them, helps the bride to dismount from her 
pillion; and leads them up the hill, after he has called James 
Burroughs to go with them.) 

Noggle. Mr. Chairman: As I was saying before I was inter- 
rupted (laughter), I wish I had words to celebrate this greatest 
of all of New Alb — I mean Beloit's town meetings. Although 
I am defeated, I find myself in complete accord with all that 
has taken place here. (Cheers.) However, I cannot help say- 
ing that I believe New Alb — I mean Beloit — is wrong in its 
attitude toward woman's rights. I believe that the future of 
our great city depends on equal education of women and men. 
I move 3^ou, therefore, that a committee of two be appointed 
to go to the legislature at Burlington and secure a charter for 
the Beloit Seminary, an institution for the education of both 
sexes. 

(Applause.) 

Hobart. What will be the sense of this meeting? 
(Applause.) 

Hobart. It gives me great pleasure to name Major Charles John- 
son and Cyrus Ames to undertake this arduous but important 
task. May the city speed them on their way. 

Fisher. They shall paddle in the very dug-out that brought me 
from Watertown. In it they'll still find my smoked suckers 
and corn bread. 

26 



(Applause. David Merrill appears on foot; the crowd 
cries, "Here is Merrill, the circuit singer! Merrill, give a song, 
a song for Beloit." Bowing low he comes forward and calls 
different members of his singing class. Ellery Crane brings his 
violin. They sing. At the close of a serenade, Rosalie, the 
Prairie Flower, Rev. Mr. Adams appears, leading by the hand 
the bride and groom.) 

Adams. Good neighbors of Beloit, allow me to introduce Mr. and 
Mrs. Harvey Bevedy. 

(There follow congratulations.) 

Merrill. Good people of Albany, now Beloit, this is a fitting 
time to bring to you the most glorious piece of news ears have 
heard. It accords with what Mr. David Noggle calls woman's 
rights. I refer to my engagement to Miss Fonda. 

(He takes Miss Fonda by the hand and leads her forward. 
There is handclapping, with congratulations.) 

Adams. Please remember that I shall meet this evening, in the 
Rock River House, all interested ,in the establishment of a church 
in Beloit. It is fitting that we end this happy, solemn after- 
noon with a word of prayer. 

(All bow; his lips murmur; the crowd quietly disperses. 
David Merrill's singing school is heard in the distance, singing 
hymns as though in choir practice for the coming church 
services. ) 

Choir. "Oh, God, our help in ages past, 

Our hope for years to come, 
Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
And our eternal home." 

(The Rev. Mr. Adams slowly mounts his horse and rides 
away. ) 

SCENE 3. 

THE FOUNDING OF BELOIT COLLEGE 

(The music of the Singing School is still heard, very dimly, 
as though across intervening years.) 
Choir. "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word." 
(Enter, seriously, while the hymn is sounding, Rev. Aratus 
Kent, Rev. Steven Pe.et, Rev. Aaron L. Chapin, Rev. Dexter 
Clary, Lucius G. Fisher, Wait Talcott, Samuel Hinman, Flavel 
Bascom, S. T. Merrill, Horace Hobart, Alfred Field and others.) 
Kent. I take possession of this land in the name of Christian Edu- 
cation, and if in it there is a place of work so hard that others 
will not go there, send me to that place. 

(Enter from the river side, Messrs. Johnson and Ames, 
returning from Burlington.) 

27 




PUBLIC LANDING AND MIDDLE COLLEGE 

(By courtesy of The L. C. Hyde & Brittan Bank) 



28 



Johnson. Go no farther for hardship. Our dug-out mission to 
the legislature at Burlington gave us for food but dried suckers 
and drier corn bread, but we got the Seminary Charter. 
(Reads.) 

"There shall be established at Beloit in Rock County, a Sem- 
inary of Learning for the instruction of young persons of either 
sex in Science and Literature and — " 

Peet. Today, however, we have a larger project, a deeper need — 
a College. 

Fisher. Beloit will meet the need. 

Peet. A College! — but without funds, without a campus, without 
library or scientific apparatus, without a faculty, with only a 
name to begin with. 

Hinman. Beloit has a Faculty. Allow me, sirs, to introduce Mr. 
S. T. Merrill whom an accidental stage-coach left here, as 
though dropped from the sky between two days. Pardon my 
triviality, gentlemen. 

Clary. A gift of Heaven gives the College a Faculty. 

Fisher. Beloit will meet the other needs. Since the convention has 
voted, sixty-three to one, to choose Beloit as a College seat — 
the first seat of higher learning north of Chicago — I am author- 
ized to state that our citizens offer a subscription of $7,000.00 — 
and what citizen will not give up for the new Campus our line 
of residence lots on the river bluff? 

(Lusk, Fisher, Peter Field, Elizabeth Field, A. L. Field, 
Major Kearney, Crane, Hobart, Burrall, Cheney, William 
Rood, Eames, and Durham together cry out:) 

Citizens. I will, I will, I will! We'll all give our lots for the 
Campus. 

Clary. The people are pledging a site and $7,000.00, but also 
in whispers they are pledging their sympathetic prayers and 
future efforts. Let us kneel now in silent devotions. 

Dr. D. K. Pearsons (passing). What are those serious people 
doing ? 

Bystander. They are some cranks trying to start a college in 
the prairie-grass. 

Pearsons. By gum, I'd just like to help them do it! Another 
Yankee fresh-water college. 

(The Founders rise from their knees.) 

Chapin. That prayer is the first cry of life of the infant College. 

Kent (to Mr. Chapin). Take this charter and observe its pro- 
visions. Execute these laws with the firmness of Caesar and 
with the meekness of a Christian. Make the impress of this 
seal the symbol of literary eminence between the Oceans. 

Chapin. Another Yale! With faith inspired by past experience, 
in connection with the firm promises of God we address our- 
selves to the difficulties before us, with confident hope that 
He who has led us by ways that we know not will perfect 

29 



the work that He has permitted us to begin and make it 
redound to His glory and the good of men. 

(During the above, music of a band has been heard from 
a distance. ) 

Peet. All will follow the band to the spot where we shall lay 
the college corner stone. 

(The band crossing the scene is composed of David Mer- 
rill, bugle; R. P. Crane, bass-drum; M. and H. Hill, fifes; 
"Old Wilk," snare-drum; Curtis, clarionet. In the passing 
procession of citizens are Professors Emerson and Bushnell, 
and Dr. Horace White on horseback with his small son, Horace, 
on the front of the saddle.) 

Emerson. Can we have a college here? 

Bushnell. Yes, if we make it. 

Emerson. Then by God's help let us try, for here is the garden 
that the Lord planted westward in Wisconsin at the same time 
that he planted a garden eastward in Eden, that so the man 
of Eden, when sufficiently prepared, might come to Beloit 
College. 

Chapin. I have no doubt that with the blessing of God we can 
make a degree from our College in Beloit worth as much 
as one from any other quarter. 

Emerson. As yet Beloit College is nothing but a prayer. 

(With the passing procession all leave the grounds except 
Dr. White and his son, Horace, who stand listening to the dis- 
tant band-music.) 




30 




EPISODE III. 
NATURE AT PLAY AND AT WORK 

SCENE 1. 

THE HILLS AND THE PARKS 

East Wilderness. Seest thou the Future's vision anywhere? 
West Wilderness. Good Doctor White provides the People's 

share 
Of Park and Garden for their play and air. 
(Dr. White takes from his doctor's saddle-bags a large 
plat of the town, spreading it upon the turf.) 
Dr. White. My son, shall you and I give to this new town, 

Beloit, a wide garden for children to play in, for always? 
Horace W. Oh, yes, father, on the hill side. 
Dr. White. Shall we keep the field, Horace, for you and your 

little sister, Libbie, or make it an open park for everybody? 
Horace W. An open park for everybody, — for me and Libbie, 
and George Crosby, and Ellery Crane, and Jonas Bundy, 
and everybody, with flowers, and paths and lilacs and snow- 
balls, and statues, too, father, statues! 
Dr. White. My boy, we'll do it. But you can never have a 
great house in a great garden. Well, the coming city must 
have air and space or we doctors will get too rich. 

(The father lifts his son to the front of his saddle.) 
Horace W. I think I would like to repeat out-of-doors the 
verses mother taught me in the house last night: 
"On the pastures of the wilderness the little hills rejoice on 

every side 

Let the hills be joyful together 

The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs." 
(The doctor and his son ride away. Enter Big Hill and 
two lines of men personifying the Bluffs, all in padded green 
and yellow motley and garlands.) 
East Wilderness. What jovial forest-fellows enter there? 

31 



West Wilderness. The River Bluffs lead in Big Hill to wear 

Their out-door wreaths upon his wild-wood 
hair. 
(The Hills sing and dance rather heavily and awkwardly 
as they tumble and play, and finally rest rather sprawlingly on 
the back slopes.) 

SONG OF THE HILLS 

How wild are the Woods, and how jolly the Hills; 
There is might in their moods that merrily fills 
The lungs with large air and the hearts with big laughter, 
While we Bluffs never care what may happen hereafter 
If only our River rolls onward forever — 

Onward forever — 

Ha, ha, ho, ho! 
(The Hills withdraw to the higher background, and a picnic 
band of children led by Horace White, Jr., roll their hoops 
across the scene toward the woods.) 

SCENE 2. 

THE RIVERS AND MILLS 

(Enter, between the lounging Hills, two sinuous lines 
of dancers, the one of young women representing the Sinnissippi 
River, the other of little boys representing Turtle Creek. The 
Sinnissippi dance is in long graceful swirls; but the Turtle 
Creek dance of the little boys imitates the river-dance farcically. 
To join the dancers there appear, from the Pond, Frogs playing 
at leap-frog and croaking at intervals.) 

SONG OF THE WATER WHEELS 

Frogs. Brek-ek-ek-ex, Koax, Koax! 

River. The River's at play, 

But shall labor today 

In the yoke of the dam and the wheel, 
As the Prairies are bringing, 
Their grain, while we're singing, 

To be ground to the flour and the meal. 
Creek. Grind, Wheel, grind, grind. 

Frogs. Brek-ek-ek-ex, Koax, Koax! 

River. The idle shall toil 

Till the flowery soil 

Shall bear us its travail of grain, 
And the turbine shall turn 
That the Miller may earn, 

With the Farmer, his food and his gain. 
Creek. Grind, Wheel, grind, grind. 

(A gang of laborers, with dinner-pails, picks, crow-bars, 
shovels and hammers, gather for the building of the dams and 
the saw-mill and grist-mill of William Goodhue and John 
Houston. ) 

32 



East Wilderness. Seest thou the Future's vision anywhere? 
West Wilderness. Goodhue and Houston, with their workmen, 

swear 
To dam the Creek and River, till the pair 
Their burden of the City's toil shall bear. 
(The laborers, while blocking the River-dancers in inter- 
ference-figures, join in their song, accompanied by the beating 
of iron tools. 

song of the mills 
Now Prophecy feels 
That a thousand vast wheels 

Shall sing where today is but one; 
And the Future reveals 
Even Heaven that kneels 

In awe at what Iron hath done. 
Turn, Wheels, turn, turn. 

Let the Iron Age beat, 
In the furnace's heat, 

The red metal naming to white; 
Let our horses of steel 
Shout the joy of the Wheel 

O'er land, and o'er sea, and in flight. 
Turn, Wheels, turn, turn. 
(A line of laborers pass, carrying heavy rails and ties. The 
last man of the line is bent under a great pack marked: R. R. 
BONDS.) 

SCENE 3. 

THE PRAIRIES AND THE REAPERS 

(Enter, on each side of the retiring River-dancers, little 
children as Blades of Grass and Prairie Flowers. They sing 
and dance with the Forest Trees.) 

Chorus 
the promise of the prairies 

Green and gold! Green and gold! 

Green and gold is the banner unfurled 

In riches and gain on the breast of the World. 

Green and gold! Green and gold! 

Reap and bind! Reap and bind! 

Reap and bind and gather the treasure 

Of harvests unstinted and bread without measure. 

Reap and bind! Reap and bind! 

Riches and gain! Riches and gain! 
Men shall reap where men have sown, 
Nor man shall live by bread alone. 
Wisdom is gain! Wisdom is gain! 

33 



(All the Nature-dancers withdraw to the extreme edges of 
the stage to frame the following action at the front.) 
East Wilderness. Seest thou the Future's vision anywhere? 
West Wilderness. Twine-binding reapers on the prairie fair 

Relieve the farmer of his drudging care. 
(Enter a Farmer, a Miller, Charles H. Parker and Gustavus 
Stone; later John F. Appleby.) 
Farmer. Oh, yes; oh, yes; your binder works all right, but your 
broken wire in the straw chokes and kills my stock. No wire- 
binder for me. No, sir. 
Miller. No, sir; no wire binder for me, neither. Your darned 

wire gets into our mill machinery. 
Parker. I'll be dashed if I'll make binders that farmers won't use 

and that millers curse. 
Stone. Let's call young Appleby down from his garret. Appleby! 
Appleby! You dreamer, you! Come down from your attic 
dust. Come down here and make the wheels go 'round. 
Appleby (from a distance). Gentlemen, don't worry, I can make 

a twine, binder — no more wire. 

Parker. No, no, we've spent money enough. No twine or wire! 

(Enter Appleby, in dusty garments, carrying a model of his 

twine-binding reaper. At the same time a complete twine-binder 

is driven upon the scene, followed by a group of investigating 

farmers. ) 

Appleby. Here's a new thing. 

Parker. You've broken your old model, and begun all over again? 

Appleby. It had to be done. No more wire. We'll knot the 

twine. I'll use the "bird's bill" knotter that I thought out when 

a boy, twenty years ago. The thoughts of youth are long, long 

thoughts. The wheels go 'round. 
Miller. It never missed a bundle. It's perfect. Use twine; no 

more wire! 
Farmers. It never missed a bundle. It's perfect. On to the next 

field. Try it again. Hurrah ! 
Parker. Your hand, Appleby, you've saved millions of dollars to 

America. 
Appleby. Yes, and aching, bended backs in every land. 

(As the party leave the stage representatives of the Deerings, 

of the McCormicks, and of the Milwaukee Harvester Company 

crowd in, making large offers for manufacturers' rights.) 

SCENE 4. 

THE WINDS AND THE WIND-MILL 

(Enter the Eight Winds with wild dancing, in green and 
white. The Winds hum in a long, high crescendo and dimin- 
uendo of the Siren.) 

34 



CHORUS OF THE CYCLONE WINDS 

H-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m! 
Disorder is ours and we fly where we list 
With a frenzy of powers to tear and to twist 

The work of the Peoples, God's heavenly steeples, 
In ruinous storms and scuddings of mist. 
With downfall of towers and forests — but hist, — 

Now our fury is finished and frenzy diminished. 
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh! 

For the Spirit is blowing where Order is Order, 
Till the Cyclone is knowing the touch of the border 

Of the robe of the Sun that God rides upon. 
A new rhythm flowing from the Hell of disorder 
Finds the Laws of Man growing majestic and broader, 

Than the wickedest swirling of elements whirling. 
Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h! 

(The Eight Winds withdraw to the background edges where, 
together with the returning picnicing children who come back 
at a skipping pace, bringing colored paper pin-wheels of "pageant" 
tints, they frame the picture of the Invention of the Eclipse 
Wind-Mill. 

East Wilderness. Seest thou the Future's vision anywhere ? 

West Wilderness. The Missionary Wheeler sets his snare 

To trap the Wind-mill Genii of the air. 

(Enter Rev. Leonard H. Wheeler with his broken left arm 
in a sling. Mrs. Wheeler also supporting her eldest son, Leonard, 
who has broken a leg, and the rest of the Wheeler family, who 
labor bringing heavy pails of water up the hill. Mr. Wheeler 
sits on a stump and reads from a great, much-worn Bible: 

" Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the 
understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom nor have 
knowledge of the holy. 

"Who hath ascended up into the heaven or descended? Who 
hath gathered the wind in his fists? (Prov. xxx.) 

"He bringeth the Wind out of his treasures." — Jer. x.) 

The youngest son has been sitting near by on the ground, 
whittling. The father takes the knife and wood from the boy 
and with the help of Leonard, designs an Eclipse Wind-Mill 
model while repeating: 

"The wind bloweth where it listeh, and thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it Cometh, and whither 
it goeth." — (John iii.) 

A young Indian boy convert of Missionary Wheeler's re- 
peats and completes the quotation: 

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither 
it goeth ; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." 

35 



The family gather about the model of the inventor, admiring 
it and repeating in concert together as they prepare to leave the 
scene : 

"Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of 
the dumb sing ; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and 
streams in the desert. 

''And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty 
land springs of water." — (Is. xxxv.) 

Before withdrawing, the Wheeler family and the Winds and 
the picnicing children discover, as in a vision, a real wind-mill 
thrown into gear and whirling at the far top of the hill. The 
Fairbanks-Morse whistle blows. The winds withdraw, sing- 
ing:) 
The Winds. A new rhythm flowing from the Hell of Disorder 

Finds the Laws of Man growing majestic and broader 
Than the wickedest swirling of elements whirling. 




36 




EPISODE IV. 
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD 

SCENE 1. 

LINCOLN'S SECOND VISIT TO WISCONSIN 

Time, Saturday, October 1, 1859. 

(Enter a carriage in which is seated Abraham Lincoln 
accompanied by C. C. Keeler.) 

Keeler. Shall we stop for the view? 

Lincoln. Yes. Has your home been long in Beloit, Mr. Keeler? 

Keeler. Only since 1855. I came to the School Superintendent, 
A. J. Batin, to apply for a certificate. 

Lincoln. A teacher? Did you pass the examination? 

Keeler. There was but one test question. I replied that I had 
taught in Vermont. Said Superintendent Battin: ''What's 
good enough for Vermont is good enough for Wisconsin." 

Lincoln. I, too, had my test in this splendid Rock River Valley. 
My success in the Black Hawk wars gave me more pleasure 
than any I have seen since. Look at the River and the Hills. 
Can you wonder that Black Hawk fought for such a region? 
Is the river now navigated, where I used to see the paddling 
canoes ? 

Keeler. No; but I've heard it said that to defend our West we 
shall want gunboats that will run up the smallest creeks. 

Lincoln. Yes; we'll want somt that will run on a light dew. 

(Enter a crowd of Republicans with banners and inscrip- 
tions. They are led by a band. The two hand-engines of 
the City Fire Department take part in the parade. There is a 
long float called the Ship of State on which ride thirty-two 
young women dressed in red, white and blue. Seated among 
them is distracted Kansas in torn black. Gamblers set up a 
Wheel of Fortune to amuse the crowd.) 

37 



Bannister. Welcome to our distinguished visitor, Old Abe, as 
his fellow-citizens of Illinois delight to call him. 

Lincoln. Fellow Republicans, the underlying principle of the 
Republican party is the hatred of slavery. If twelve good 
sound Democrats could be found in the County of Rock, I 
would put them on their oath as a jury, and wring from them 
the verdict that it is the Republicans that hold the same prin- 
ciples which Washington, Jefferson, Adams and their compeers 
held. 

( Cheers. ) 

Keeler. Say no more here, Mr. Lincoln, you will be heard better 
at our Murray's Hall. 

Charles Rau (a hotel bell-boy). Lunch is now ready for Mr. 
Lincoln at the Bushnell House. 

(Lincoln acknowledges the salutations of the people and is 
driven away. Only a small number are remaining now about 
the gambler's Fortune Wheel.) 

S. T. Merrill (passing and violently overturning the Wheel of 
Chance). The City Marshall shall be called. These are no 
days, young men, for tempting Fortune. It's shiftless. Get 
some New England thrift. If you must spend, buy books. 
Some day your Lady Fortune will set up a Savings Bank in 
Beloit — no nincompoop's whirligig! I prophecy $500,000.00 
in a Beloit Savings Bank some day. I suppose you know no 
Latin or French: Fortuna sequatur. Fortune aveugle suit 
aveugle hardiesse. 

(As the scene is left empty there enter, to dance about the 
broken Wheel of Fortune, the same Fates and mystic Prophetic 
figures who have before attended the appearance of Lincoln. 
They circle around the broken Fortune- Wheel and gaze after 
the disappearing carriage.) 

SONG OF THE FATES 

Spin the blazing rings of Chance 

Where the Future's pictures are; 

Ere yon carriage driveth far, 
Ere we finish what we dance, 
We shall hear its wheels advance 

'Neath a red and martial star, 
Bringing panoply and lance, 
As a Chariot of War. 
Spin the blazing rings of Chance 

Where the Future's pictures are. 

SCENE 2. 

ENLISTMENT 

Time, 1861. 

(A distant band playing Dixie changes suddenly to the 
time and tune of Yankee Doodle. Citizens gather on the green. 

38 



Enter Charles Rau, a newsboy, without coat or cap, in excite- 
ment. ) 
Rau. Extra! Extra! Extra! War! War! Sumpter fired on! 
Journal and Courier! War! War! War! Journal and 
Courier! Extra! President calls for 75,000 volunteers. War! 
War! Journal and Courier! 

(The newsboy is surrounded and overwhelmed by pur- 
chasers. Other throngs of citizens enter. They string lines 
of flags from tree to tree while all join in singing The Star 
Spangled Banner. Recruiting officers take places at a table. 
"Old Wilks" fastens poster to a tree: 

PATRIOTS TO ARMS 

YOUR COUNTRY CALLS 
RESPOND! RESPOND! 
LET EVERY PATRIOT BE READY 
TO DO HIS DUTY. 
(Signed) 

H. P. Strong. 
C. C. Keeler 
W. E. Hale 

(During the stir of excitement the following voices are 
raised at the same time in general confusion and interruption 
as a line is formed of men waiting to volunteer.) 

Rev. N. D. Graves. Our foes are those of our own household. 
Revolt in Heaven could not be more unnatural. 

Pres. Chapin. It is an hour for prayer. Turn unto your God. 

Recruiting Officer. Who will be the first to enlist? 

Adams. I, Richard Adams. 

All. Hurrah for Dick Adams. 

Capt. Clark. I shall be sure of a hundred men today. 

Prof. Emerson. Our college-boys are ready for any martyrdom, like 
Spartans. 

Henry Porter. Fellows, they measure me too short. Take me 
out and stretch me. Ill be back again, and tall enough! 

Recruiting Officer. Take blushing George Travis away and 
give her skirts. She can't enlist. 

Travis. I swear I'm man enough to be a soldier. 

All. Hurrah for our Joan of Arc! 

Mayor Parker. Order. Order. Mr. J. C. Converse will read 
the President's Proclamation; Prof. J. J. Blaisdell, the procla- 
mation of the Governor. 

Converse (reading, from right of the scene). "I, Abraham Lin- 
coln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power 
vested in me by the Constitution and Laws have thought fit to 
call forth the militia of the several states of the Union to the 
aggregate of 75,000." 

(At the same time from the left of the scene Professor J. J. 
Blaisdell is reading the proclamation of Governor Randall.) 

39 



Prof. Blaisdell (reading). "I invite the patriotic citizens of the 
state to enroll themselves into companies of seventy-eight men 
each and to advise the Executive of their readiness to be mus- 
tered into service immediately." 

Miss Hinman. I bring word from the Teachers of Union School 
No. 2 that we women will scrape lint, prepare bandages, or go to 
Texas — or lower down still — to save the Union. 
(Applause.) 

Voice. Father Smith, Rev. T. A. Smith; we'll hear from Father 
Smith! 

Father Smith. It is seldom that a Catholic clergyman speaks be- 
fore such an assemblage; but no patriotism is higher than Irish 
patriotism. I appeal to all men, whatever their birth, to join in 
the common defense of a common country. 

Voice. Let's give three cheers for the Irish and for Father Smith! 
( Cheers. ) 

B. E. Hale (hurrying in from the Chicago train with papers). The 
latest news: Government troops have been killed in Baltimore. 

A. P. Waterman. Any clerk from my hardware store, who will 
volunteer, shall receive from me his full salary for his term 
of service. 

M. Rosenblatt. I will let Mr. Reitler go from my store on the 
same terms. 

Voices. Three cheers for the Germans! (Cheers.) 

Bennett Wooster. To any volunteer of family, who has no 
home, I now offer, rent-free, a house, barn and garden — and 
I'll dig the potatoes, too. 

Deacon Coffin. French, Colby, Prouty, Wright and I have 
ready five barrels of flour for the families of the next five vol- 
unteers. 

J. G. Kendall. I have one son enlisted. I wish I had more to 
enlist. 

Capt. Clark. My company has ninety-two men already. 

Mayor Parker. I can announce as a subscription for families of 
volunteers $2,400.00. 

Farmer. Little Shopiere up Turtle Creek has just raised $4,180.00. 
(Enter Matthew Carpenter.) 

Parker. Listen to Carpenter, the Achilles of Wisconsin orators. 

Low Voices. Hoot Carpenter. Shoot Carpenter. Who upset our 
Beloit town-lot titles? Hiss him! He's a Democrat. 

Clinton Babbitt. Hear Matt. Carpenter, our silver-voiced ora- 
tor, and an old Beloit boy. 

Carpenter (running his fingers through his black hair and mark- 
ing emphatic syllables by torpedo-like hand-clappings). Fellow 
Citizens of Beloit, that I am a Democrat you all know. My 
father was a Democrat. My grand-father was a Democrat. 
My great-grand-father was a Democrat; — and so on back; — 
and the first great Democrat was the Devil himself! But this 

40 



is not a time for Democrats or Republicans. It is a time for 
patriots — or traitors! 

(Amid the applause that follows begin the farewells of sol- 
diers, while the band plays "The Soldier's Farewell." The 
Beloit City Guards, in uniform, march toward the depot. The 
Beloit Volunteer Rifles, without uniforms, are taken in farmers' 
wagons to meet a train at Shopiere. 

Meantime a company of little boys, with paper cockades and 
epaulets and wooden weapons, is drilling, led by a boys' band. 

(Their parents follow them from the scene.) 

SCENE 3. 

THE SOLDIERS' RETURN 

Time, 1865. 
(Citizens enter, somewhat older and more sober than in the 
last scene. They bring great baskets of provisions for a picnic 
lunch for a returning regiment. To the tune, "Johnnie Comes 
Marching Home," the soldiers march in, break ranks, and are 
served from the baskets. On one of the side tables, John Rood, 
a small Beloit boy, is set up to recite portions of "Sheridan's 
Ride." A quartette of Officers sings a song composed in camp 
by William F. Brown.) 

Henry Porter. We'll sing Brown's song, the song we sung in Ten- 
nessee. The tune is "Little Nell of Narragansett Bay." 
Quartette. 

"Oh, well do I remember my old Beloit home, 
The bird-house on the ridge-pole, where birds would always 

come ; 
Rock River bright behind it, the busy street before, 
The vine clad wall, those columns tall, the rose beside the door. 
Long years a call was sounded, of danger, through the land ; 
Our fears proved not unfounded and many an earnest band 
Marched off to aid their country, with these among them then ; 
So here we are in Tennessee, remembering home again. 

CHORUS 

Loud praise in song that dear Wisconsin home, 
Though late and long a soldier you may roam. 
Low sing the song, a sad and tender strain, 
For here today, far, far away, we think of home again." 

(Several of the soldiers and young men, and young women 
of Beloit begin a dance, popular at the period. A quartette of 
colored men sing Southern melodies. 

(Enter, as the music is concluding, Farmer Rood. He most 
seriously gives news in subdued tones to members of the com- 
pany. One by one the company is oppressed by deep but silent 

41 



grief. There are exclamations, ''Lincoln ! Lincoln!" Men take 
down the strings of flags. Women bring in lines of flags, black 
bordered. In depressing silence the citizens leave the scene, 
while the Veterans of the G. A. R. enter, fire a salute, and then 
file away. 

(Across the empty scene to the music-motif of the former 
Fate-songs there pace, in silence, the mystic Prophetic figures 
whose presence throughout the Pageant has been associated with 
the career of Lincoln. As they leave they take down and away 
the scene-hangings of mourning banners.) 




42 




POSTLUDE 

TODAY AND TOMORROW 

SCENE 1. 
Industry and Education 

(The Spirit of the Pageant Banner is led by Father 
Time, now in the guise of Industry, to the central hillside 
throne. Thence they review the two processions, one of Indus- 
try, one of Education. These two processions entering from 
the left and from the right, and ushered by the Flame-Boys, 
join in an harmonious column to march up to the throne, and 
there they become supporters of the central figures. All together 
thus form, high up the hill-slope, a background audience to 
witness the remaining scenes of the Pageant.) 
East Wilderness. What Pageantry of Nations passeth there? 
West Wilderness. The Laborers. They bid our wilds beware 

Lest Labor prove the Wilderness' despair, 
Since cities prosper en what Laborers dare. 
(The participants in the Procession of Industry are in over 
thirty groups from different national sources. They bear sym- 
bols of the lands of their origin and carry some of the tools and 
products of their present crafts. As they pass the reviewing 
throne they receive American flags and Beloit Pageant banners 
in exchange for their foreign banners and ensigns. 

43 



East Wilderness. What starry pageant marcheth thoughtful there ? 
West Wilderness. The Thinkers. They shall drive us to our lair 

Of wilder hiding, if their thinking e'er 
Can lift its Science on the Faith of Prayer. 
(The Procession of Education personifies the contribution of 
the Humanities and the Sciences to the progress of Beloit. 

8CENE 2 

THE PAGEANT BANNER 

(The Spirit of the Pageant Banner leads the Forces 
of Civic Energy in the following series of dances accompanied 
by music, song and chant expressive of the city's growth in manu- 
facturing enterprises and municipal ideals.) 
East Wilderness. Who yonder float and fly in dances fair ? 
West Wilderness. Steam-Maidens. The enchanted scarfs they 

wear 
Are strong as Fate, though lighter than the 
air. 

DANCE OF THE STEAM-MAIDENS 

East Wilderness. What duskier figures to the the scene repair? 
West Wilderness. The Dance of Smoke, in gloom of drab that 

ne'er 
Shows brightened skies to eyes that skyward 
stare. 

DANCE OF THE WRAITHS OF SMOKE 

A Smoke Wraith (arrogantly). 

The slow is swift; the cold is hot; 
We smudge the hopeful skies and blot 
The blue of Heavens that have forgot 
The ancient music of their stars; 
For life is toil; and toils are tears; 
No azure on the sky appears, 
When Greed and Grudge and Hate and Fears 
Have blistered Labor with their scars. 
Turn, Wheels, turn. 

East Wilderness. What lightnings through the grayer dancers 

tear? 
West Wilderness. Electric Force and Gases tint their glare 

With power and splendor o'er our scenic 
square. 

DANCE OF ELECTRICITY 

Industry. That elder dirge of soot and smoke, 

Where heads were bowed and hearts were broke, 
Was silenced when one Star awoke 
To sing that God is Love and Toil. 
44 



The circling of the Era's wheel 
Intoxicates the Man to feel 
The City's labor as its weal 

That clothes with green and gold its soil. 
Turn, Wheel, turn. 

(Enter a band of City Builders before whose large red 
crosses of service the vicious, gloomy Smoke Wraiths slink away. 
At the throne of the Spirit of the Pageant Banner the 
Builders reverse their crosses from red to gold. All the Dancers 
now begin to form a living Banner of the Pageant. Among them 
the Spirit of the Banner dances, expressing its symbolism. A 
large banner is unfurled.) 

Unfurler of the Banner (as he pulls the cords). 
The Pageant Flag is banded bright and broad 
With prairie colors of the grass and grain 
That frame our civic riches. Blue between 
The River unifies — and not divides, 
For, widening at its damming, it has caught 
The heated red and white of turbine power 
In shapes of all things rapid, wheel in wheel, — 
The universe of wheels that spin in air, 
In water, gas, or blaze. In wheels in wheels 
Some transcendental Prophet sees the vision 
Whose fire is wings. He feels in spoke and flange 
Some quiet lure of Cross and Flaming Star 
To hitch a car or humble wagon to, 
And loves and serves — where once the Turtle sunned — 
The swifter city of the Blazing Wheels. 

The Flag hath mystic meanings but to few ; — 

To every patriot whose eye is true 

It shows its central red and white and blue. 

Final Chorus 
The Pageant Banner 

When gallant flags are on Wisconsin's sky 

Where color unto color answers down; 
When pageantry and festival lift high 

Their goals of civic promise and renown; 
Then shall Beloit in daring joy let fly 

Her banners of a happy prairie town. 
Wave, banners, wave! 

A royal gold-and-green of farms is flung 

For comrade winds aloft to furl or float ; 
The singing River's azure stripe is hung 

In pennant chords on Heaven's bluest note, 

45 



While red-and-white are blown, like prayers, among 
The neighbor sympathies of stars remote. 
Wave, banners, wave! 

The village turtle dreamed its dream of wings; 

The prairie wagon found its path to soar; 
The early toilers built from common things 

Our industries that grow from more to more, 
Till Labor plays us, on its gladdening strings, 

Some City Hymn of Stars — with long encore. 
Wave, banners, wave! 




46 



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